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Wednesday, August 9, 2023

ROBBIE ROBERTSON,
1943-2023

Robbie Robertson, frontman and lead guitarist for The Band, whose songs explored bygone eras and a fictionalized vision of the rural American South, died Wednesday in Los Angeles. He was 80.

Drawing on blues, folk, gospel and early R&B using distinct multipart harmonies, Robertson and The Band’s decade of recordings beginning in the late 1960s laid the roots for modern-day Americana. With three fellow Canadians and a native of Arkansas, Robertson created a sound that felt rooted in the Civil War yet was just as fresh as the music of the group's peers.

Despite only three Top 10 albums and two Top 40 singles, The Band was at the foreground of the changing American rock scene. Its debut, 1968’s Music From Big Pink, had an immediate impact— especially Robertson’s composition “The Weight”—influencing established artists such as The Grateful Dead and newcomers like Elton John. The self-titled follow-up cemented The Band’s reputation for vivid storytelling via Robertson’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” and “Across the Great Divide.”

In 1970 The Band became the first North American act to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

Robertson and co. participated in some of the most significant rock events of the 1960s and '70s, backing Bob Dylan on his first electric tour, playing Woodstock as one of the few local acts, appearing with The Allman Brothers and The Dead at the most-attended festival in history, 1973’s Summer Jam at Watkins Glen (New York; an estimated 600,000 fans) and mounting their own star-studded farewell show, which formed the bulk of the acclaimed concert film The Last Waltz.

While four of the band members took turns singing lead, Robertson quickly became the dominant songwriter, penning classics such as “The Shape I’m In,” “Stage Fright” and “Ophelia.” He wrote all the songs on The Band's penultimate album, 1975’s Northern Lights–Southern Cross.

They famously called it quits with The Last Waltz concert, Thanksgiving Day 1976 in San Francisco. While several members would continue in later years as The Band, Roberston never joined them.

Born Jaime Royal Robertson, he grew up in Toronto and after playing locally for a few years, joined Ronnie Hawkins’ band The Hawks in 1959. By 1961, the future members of The Band—Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson—were all members of The Hawks. The quintet went out on their own in 1964, having recorded a handful of singles, using an assortment of names, and eventually backed John Hammond on his 1965 album So Many Roads. Soon thereafter, Dylan asked Robertson to join his backing band, which he agreed to only after hiring Helm as the drummer (Danko, Manuel and Hudson were later brought aboard). They toured the U.S. and Europe as Bob Dylan and The Hawks.

The Band made its first recordings together in 1968 in Woodstock, New York, which became a bootlegged sensation under the title The Great White Wonder. It would officially be released in 1975 as The Basement Tapes.

The Band signed with Capitol Records in 1968 and recorded at a steady pace, delivering four albums between 1968 and 1971. They reunited with Dylan for Planet Waves in 1974. The tour that followed was one of the most in-demand ever: Nearly 6 million requests were received for the 650k available tickets. The tour yielded the spectacular live album Before the Flood.

During the setup for The Last Waltz, which featured Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Dylan and many others The Band had worked with, the group recorded their final album, Islands.

Robertson with Eddie Rosenblatt during his tenure with Geffen Records.

Robertson’s post-Band music included six solo recordings that often explored his Native American heritage, film projects with Last Waltz director Martin Scorsese and an A&R gig with DreamWorks Records. Over the last few decades, Robertson took on the role of historian for The Band, working on reissues, writing a memoir and providing the central voice in Daniel Roher’s 2019 doc Once Were Brothers. His last release was 2019's Sinematic.

Hearing of Robertson's death, Scorsese released a statement that read: “I could always go to him as a confidante. A collaborator. An adviser. I tried to be the same for him. Long before we ever met, his music played a central role in my life—me and millions and millions of other people all over this world. The Band’s music, and Robbie’s own later solo music, seemed to come from the deepest place at the heart of this continent, its traditions and tragedies and joys. It goes without saying that he was a giant, that his effect on the art form was profound and lasting. There’s never enough time with anyone you love. And I loved Robbie.”

The Band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2008. Robertson also earned lifetime achievement awards from the National Academy of Songwriters and The Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame and was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame.

 
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